Insecurity: Tinubu Approves Purchase Of Hi-Tech Digital Tracking Devices For FCT

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has announced that he has secured the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the immediate procurement of digital tracking tools to track kidnappers and other criminal elements.

This was as the minister said that while the FCT cannot set up its own security agency like the subnational entities, it would, however, establish a Joint Task Force with a full command and control structure as well as relevant equipment to be able to respond in cases of security emergencies.

Wike, who announced these in Abuja at a press briefing on Monday, January 22, 2024, said that with the emergency procurement approval by the president, the story would now change for good.

The FCT Minister noted that the absence of needed tracking equipment in the past led to the recent embarrassing upsurge in the spate of banditry and kidnappings in the nation’s capital.

In the words of Wike; “So many facilities were not provided. Vehicles for the security agencies are not there. You cannot believe that the equipment to track criminals is not there.

“When anything happens, they go back to the Office of the National Security Adviser or to the Force Headquarters. That is not the way it is supposed to be.

“So, what we have done with the approval of Mr. President for the emergency procurement is that we have been able to identify what each of the security agencies needs, and we will be able to provide them.

“Again, before we came on board, the police had said that they had requested for the procurement of a certain number of motorcycles where vehicles could not get to the remote and mountainous areas. Unfortunately, they were not provided, but we are going to do that now.

“Security is not just these equipment. You also have to motivate the personnel. The basic thing is that having identified all these, and the security agencies have told us this is what they require, we have to do the needful.

“We have even gone further to ask the State Director of DSS about what they would need to tackle this menace. What kind of equipment do you want? Not that if anything happens, you have to run to your headquarters to seek assistance.

“The next thing is to set up a Joint Security outfit where they have their own structure and equipment so, that if anything happens, the task force will know it is their function to move in.

“It will cost us some funds and it will take us some time, but what is important is that we have identified that this is a lacuna that we have to cover,” the FCT Minister said.